WASHINGTON, May 24 (AFP) - The United States has quietly resumed
military contacts with Indonesia that were suspended after last year's
massacres in East Timor , inviting observers to an exercise in Thailand
and scheduling a bilateral exercise in July, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"What we're doing is cautiously re-establishing contacts with the
Indonesian military," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon told AFP.
"We're doing this now because we think they have made some progress
toward reform and accountability in their military."

Bacon said the initial contacts have been with the Indonesian forces
that were least involved -- the air force, navy and marines -- in the East
Timor violence and do not include the army.

The Indonesian air force sent 10 observers to the Cobra Gold exercise
in Thailand, which involved US, Thai and Singaporean forces, Pentagon
officials said. The exercises ended Tuesday.

The Indonesian navy and marines also have been invited to take part in
a bilateral exercise July 18-26 as part of the Cooperative and Readiness
Afloat Training (CARAT) exercise that the US Navy conducts with southeast
Asian countries, he said.

The exercise will focus on humanitarian assistance, civil action and
anti-piracy, he said.

The United States suspended military-to-military contacts with the
Indonesian military on September 9 in response to the situation in East
Timor .

Bacon described the military activities as "modest steps"
that acknowledge progress by President Abdurrahman Wahid in establishing
civilian control over the military, which has been accused of complicity
in East Timor violence last year that claimed the lives of hundreds of
civilians.

"They have made some progress toward reform and accountability and
reform in their military. They have worked hard to improve conditions
along the border with East Timor . They are moving towards civilian
control of the military," he said.

Bacon cited the removal of General Wiranto as defense minister as
evidence that Wahid is taking steps to make the military accountable for
its action.

Wiranto is currently under investigation for his role in the rampage by
military-backed militias in East Timor who opposed an August 30 referendum
on independence for the territory.

At the State Department, spokesman Philip Reeker insisted that no
decision on resuming the suspended programs had yet been taken.

"We have been looking at ways to encourage positive changes in the
Indonesian military, and in doing that, we're looking at our military-
to-military relationship as part of the effort, Reeker told reporters.

"Let me stress though that no final decisions have been made in
that regard on resuming military cooperation with Indonesia."

But the Pentagon wants to follow up the bilateral exercise in July with
small-scale exchange programs and military visits, Bacon said.

"We haven't moved back to a full schedule of military contacts
like we had before," Bacon said. "These are the first steps. We
have to think about what steps we take after this. The steps we are
contemplating will continue to be modest in terms of exchanges,
etcetera."

jm-mvl/gs

New York Times Letter to the Editor, May 27, 2000

Stop Military Ties With Indonesians

To the Editor:

The Clinton administration should not have resumed ties with the
Indonesian military (news article, May 24). Such ties reward the
Indonesian military for its continuing abuse of the people of East Timor
and Indonesia.

Before the Indonesian military ended its occupation of East Timor in
October, it and military-backed militias forced an estimated quarter of a
million East Timorese into Indonesia.

More than 100,000 refugees remain, many trapped inside camps where they
are terrorized by the military and its militias and suffer from disease
and malnutrition.

The military and its militias also attack and infiltrate East Timor
from across the border. In addition, the Indonesian military still
represses and terrorizes people in Aceh, West Papua and other parts of
Indonesia.

Many Congressional members oppose the administration's resumption of
military ties with Indonesia and have proposed legislation to prohibit
these ties. Congress should pass it.

ELIOT HOFFMAN Forest Hills, Queens, May 25, 2000
The writer was a United Nations-accredited observer at the Aug. 30,
1999, vote in East Timor.

International Herald Tribune June 2, 2000U.S.-Indonesia Ties

Regarding ''U.S. Reopens Ties With Indonesia'' (May 25):

The article cites a defense official who describes planned joint
exercises with the Indonesian Marines as concentrating on ''humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief.''

The Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training program scheduled for
this summer is actually a large-scale, multiforce, high-prestige exercise
that stages simulated assaults.

This spring in Aceh, the Indonesian Army, Air Force and Navy have been
sweeping rural villages, killing civilians daily. In West Papua and West
Kalimantan, the police are also implicated in atrocities. In West Timor,
Indonesian forces still actively support militias that prevent more than
100,000 East Timorese refugees from repatriation.

The new government of Indonesia has certainly made positive steps to
reform the military. But Indonesia is far from meeting current conditions
imposed by a congressional provision that restricts U.S. military
assistance.

International pressure has helped rein in the Indonesian military. To
support that country's civil society, it should be strengthened, not
suspended.

LYNN FREDRIKSSON.
Washington.

New York Times May 24, 2000
also published in International Herald Tribune (May 25, 2000)

United States and Indonesia Quietly Resume
Military Cooperation

By Elizabeth Becker

WASHINGTON, May 23 -- The Clinton administration has quietly resumed
military cooperation with Indonesia, senior defense officials said today,
eight months after cutting off those ties following massacres in East
Timor.

The United States broke the freeze this month by inviting Indonesian
military observers to joint exercises in Thailand and by completing plans
this week to hold the first joint exercises between American and
Indonesian armed forces in July.

These exercises are a prelude to a much larger military-to-military
program the administration will present Congress this month to reward the
new, democratically elected Indonesian government for removing some of the
senior military officers under investigation for the East Timor massacres
and for imposing civilian control of the military, according to senior
administration officials.

Since taking office seven months ago, President Abdurrahman Wahid has
named a civilian minister of defense and removed General Wiranto, the
powerful chief of the armed forces, who is under investigation for
allowing several army units to orchestrate last year's rampage in East
Timor, which left hundreds dead after the province voted for independence
from Indonesia.

But some members of Congress and human rights groups are critical of
resuming any relations with the military until the current investigations
into the massacres and other human rights abuses in East Timor lead to
trials of senior officers.

Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, will propose
legislation as early as this week to prolong the freeze on military
relations until the officers are all put on trial.

And a group of 29 human rights organizations has petitioned Secretary
of State Madeleine K. Albright to prevent any "resumption of military
engagement at any level."

"I really do think it is premature for the Pentagon to be resuming
cooperation when there has been a lack of accountability for the senior
officers," said Michael Jendrzejczyk of Human Rights Watch, which
signed the letter to Dr. Albright.

President Clinton suspended all military ties with Indonesia in
September when General Wiranto failed to reign in the local militia as it
rampaged through East Timor. And in its report issued earlier this year,
the United Nations said its investigation uncovered evidence that special
forces of the Indonesian army did "support the militias in
intimidation and terror attacks" in East Timor.

To avoid working with those units, the Pentagon is renewing its ties
first with the Indonesia's air force and navy. The joint exercises this
summer will be held with Indonesian marines and will concentrate on
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, according to a senior defense
official.

"What better way than to take some first steps towards
re-engagement with humanitarian exercises and with the services that don't
have a cloud over them," said a senior official who asked for
anonymity.

After consultations with Congress, the administration hopes to begin
what Dr. Albright described in a letter to the human rights groups as a
"carefully calibrated" program to renew ties with the two
militaries.

"Given where Indonesia was a year ago, this government has made
tremendous progress in asserting civilian control over the military,"
said Adam Schwarz, the author of "A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia's
Search for Stability," (Westview Press, 1994).

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